KATOWICE, Poland: Negotiators from almost 200 countries are making a last-minute effort to resolve differences on the rules that will govern the 2015 Paris climate accord.
Diplomats and ministers worked through the night to present fresh drafts on the rulebook and other issues Thursday to the chair of the UN climate talks in Poland.
A Polish diplomat overseeing the two-week meeting is expected to merge the drafts and present them to delegates in the afternoon.
German negotiator Karsten Sach told reporters that a key test of whether the talks will conclude successfully Friday.
Other issues include financial support for poor countries and how to acknowledge of a key scientific report on keeping warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7. Fahrenheit) that major oil producers called alarmist.
Paris accord rulebook takes shape at UN climate talks
Paris accord rulebook takes shape at UN climate talks
OSCE to probe Georgia over human rights concerns
- OSCE said they were invoking the so-called Moscow mechanism to “establish a fact-finding mission” focusing on Georgia
- The mission will “assess Georgia’s implementation of its OSCE commitments”
VIENNA: The world’s largest regional security organization will probe the human rights situation in Georgia, with members expressing “increasing concern” about democratic backsliding in the Caucasus nation in a statement Thursday.
Authorities in the Black Sea country have in recent years pursued a crackdown on the opposition and have jailed prominent pro-EU figures.
The government has faced accusations of democratic backsliding, drifting toward Russia and derailing Georgia’s bid to join the European Union — allegations it rejects.
In a joint statement seen by AFP, 24 members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said they were invoking the so-called Moscow mechanism to “establish a fact-finding mission” focusing on Georgia.
The mission will “assess Georgia’s implementation of its OSCE commitments, with a particular focus on developments since spring 2024.”
“We have followed closely and with increasing concern the human rights situation in Georgia,” said the joint statement made by 23 European countries and Canada.
The countries urged Georgia “to cooperate with and facilitate the work of the mission.”
Under the mechanism, experts on a mission have a time frame of several weeks to submit their report.
Most recently, the mechanism has been invoked several times to send experts to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in 2022, with them finding “clear patterns of international humanitarian law violations.”
Founded in 1975 to ease tensions between the East and the West during the Cold War, the Vienna-based OSCE counts 57 members from Europe, Central Asia and North America, including Russia, Ukraine and the United States.
